SEATTLE — Anthony Santanderâ€s season is over. Just more than an hour prior to first pitch in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, the Blue Jays announced that Santander had been removed from the roster with a injury. Manager John Schneider said the injury is related to the back tightness that made him a late scratch for ALCS Game 2 on Monday.
Any injury removal also makes a player ineligible for the next series, effectively ending a 2025 season that has been cruel to Santander. Joey Loperfido, who has been travelling with the Blue Jays in case a moment like this arose, has taken Santanderâ€s spot on the roster.
Itâ€s difficult to imagine a more frustrating start to Santanderâ€s Blue Jays career after signing a five-year, $92.5 million deal in January, fresh off a 44-homer campaign with the Orioles. He looked like the power threat this Blue Jays lineup desperately needed, but a slow start was quickly made worse by a nagging left shoulder injury that eventually robbed more than three months of the season from Santander.
Santander rehabbed in time to return for the final week of September and the postseason, but he was held out of Thursdayâ€s lineup with soreness and “feeling all sorts of October,†manager John Schneider said before this move was made official.
At the end of this draining and complicated season for Santander, heâ€s left with a .175 average and .565 OPS over 54 regular-season games, then similar numbers in the postseason. None of this was what Santander or the Blue Jays envisioned.
Santanderâ€s season is now a worry for next spring. No player in this organization will be as eager as Santander to see a fresh start in a new season, and he will still have every opportunity to star in the middle of the Blue Jays†lineup, but itâ€s Loperfidoâ€s time now. Down 2-1 in the ALCS entering Game 4, Toronto needs to win right here, right now.
“Weâ€d obviously love to have [Santander] in there, but itâ€s part of the game and part of this point of the season,†said Game 5 starter Kevin Gausman. “Heâ€s really battled back to even get here. Itâ€s next guy up. [The Mariners] arenâ€t going to feel bad that heâ€s not in there. Theyâ€ll probably be pretty happy, to be honest.â€
Loperfido has earned this opportunity. Even though he felt like an afterthought in Triple-A Buffalo at times this season, Loperfido earned rave reviews from the coaching staff for the work he did to stay prepared, which has shown itself again through September and October in the big leagues. Loperfido hasnâ€t played much, but he has taken as much batting practice as one player possibly can and worked to be ready for some specific scenarios, including late-game spots where he could be used off the bench.
Over 41 games of sporadic playing time with Toronto, Loperfido hit .333 with four home runs and an .879 OPS, flashing the potential that had the Blue Jays so excited when they acquired him from the Astros at the 2024 Trade Deadline in the Yusei Kikuchi deal. Loperfido hits right-handed pitching particularly well, making him an option to see some legitimate playing time if the Blue Jays can continue to extend this series.
Bo Bichette is getting closer to being considered as an option for the Blue Jays, and he continued to crank up his running Thursday, but heâ€s not quite cleared yet to return from his left knee sprain. Bichette, who also took a run at being ready for this original ALCS roster before feeling some discomfort, is absolutely an option for the World Series if Toronto can advance.
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